g good morning to our viewers in the west. it is election day, tuesday, november 6, 2012. welcome to "cbs this morning." after nearly two years of campaigning and $2 billion spent, it is time for america to choose its next president. >> the polls show two candidates in a dead heat. we'll talk to both sides and go to the key battle ground states. >> and how will superstorm sandy affect the lebsselections as new york and new jersey brace for another big storm tomorrow. >> and we begin with today's "eye opener," your world in 90 seconds. >> we're one day away from the fresh start, one day away from the new beginning. nice. >> it all comes down to you.

it's out of my hands now, it's in yours. all of this depends on what you do. >> polls open as america pick as president. >> mitt romney is still pushing it casting his vote in belmont, massachusetts. >> joe biden did the same in delaware. >> ohio is the battleground of all the battleground states. >> it is coming down to one this evening, turnout, which party gets their voters to the polls? >> mitt romney will visit pittsburgh. >> did you see pennsylvania turning red? it's over. >> we're not taking anything for granted. pennsylvania has tight endenedtightened. >> if you have a single female undecided voter in your home, cover her with plywood. >> folks impacted by hurricane sandy say they're too worried about survival to vote. >> a nor'easter is heading to the state of florida on

wednesday, it's expected to hit new york and new jersey. >> new orleans wins at home. philadelphia needed a win, didn't get it. >> are your hometown chicago bears good enough to win the super bowl? >> yes, they are. >> you have a favorite team? >> new england patriots. and i take full personal responsibility for their two super bowl wins. >> is it true you did some shows with no audience? >> yes. >> what was that like? >> about like tonight. >> and all of that matters. >> your voting isn't just a right. it's also a couple hours off from work tomorrow. >> did you go to the polls and vote yet? >> yes. >> was it exciting? >> it was a blast. welcome to "cbs this morning." this is the day when voters choose the next president of the united states. as you wake up on the west coast, polls have now opened across the country. millions of people have already

voted, many states predict a record turnout and the outcome is expected to be extremely close. >> three new polls of likely voters have just come out. one of them has governor mitt military leading by one point. another shows a tie and the third has president obama leading by three points. this morning our correspondents are all across the country. they're covering the presidential race. the other important races and the impact of superstorm sandy on election day. >> even though it's election day, governor romney's campaign is not over. he's making two last-minute stops this morning. >> and jan crawford is in belmont, massachusetts, the republican candidate's hometown. jan, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, nora good morning, charlie. governor romney and his wife anne, voted here just over an hour ago. paul ryan has voted in his state of wisconsin. now both are going to do a little more campaigning.

they are looking and working for every last vote especially in these must-win swing states. >> thank you very much. let's win this one tomorrow! >> reporter: bolstered monday at every campaign stops by crowds in the thousands romney the day before the election hammered home his message of change. >> tomorrow we begin a new tomorrow. god bless each of you, god bless ohio. >> reporter: underscoring its importance, he stopped twice in two days in ohio. he'll return today, a last-minute decision to shore up support in a state that romney has struggled to nail down and he'll head to a state once considered safe for the president, pennsylvania as he looks for a safeguard if he loses other battleground states. >> this is fabulous. >> reporter: romney also campaigned monday in florida, virginia and new hampshire, appearing confident despite most swing state polls showing him tied or behind. in an interview during "monday

night football," romney was relaxed and even joked about how as massachusetts governor he delivered big for new england patriots fans. >> and i take personal full responsibility for their two super bowl wins. as governor you get blamed for everything that goes wrong. you might as well get the credit for what goes right. >> reporter: romney will be with his supporters hoping for the win. a senior adviser said romney is confident, they're feeling good they think they've done about everything they can. now it's up to the voters and whether or not they're going to turn out in the numbers that the romney campaign right now is expecting. >> jan crawford thank you. president obama made his last stops monday in wisconsin, ohio and iowa. after his final rally in des moines, the president spent the night in his hometown of chicago. nancy, good morning. >> reporter: the president woke up in his own bed in his own townhouse in chicago this morning. unlike governor romney he is

not hitting the campaign trail today. he is staying put here in chicago. he said it's in the hands of the voters now. he may visit a campaign office later today to do phone banking to get out the vote. and then he to mccormack place, a large convention center in south chicago for what he hopes will be a victory party. on a clear, chilly night president obama joined 20,000 supporters at the same corner in downtown des moines where he opened a small campaign office back in 2007. >> sometimes it's been hard sometimes it's been frustrating. >> reporter: it was his 101st rally of this campaign season. ♪ >> reporter: capping a day spent jamming can jay-z and bruce springsteen and dialing voters and volunteers in ohio. like romney, he dropped in for a quick interview with espn that aired during "monday night football." >> the key is to just stay focused on what it is that you're doing.

>> reporter: in des moines the first lady made her own closing pitch for her husband's reelection. >> we have seen an honest man who knows the facts and always gives it to us straight. >> reporter: and mr. obama teared up whether from emotion or the cold as he reminisced about his first improbable victory in the iowa caucuses that propelled him to the presidency and asked voters for for mour years to finish what he started. >> after the millions of dollars in ads, it all comes down to you. it's out of my hands now. it's in yours. >> reporter: his vice president, joe biden, cast his ballot this morning in his home state of delaware. the president voted early about a week and a half ago so he doesn't have to vote today. early voting of course so key to the obama campaign's election strategy. they have wrapped up early voting leads in just about every battleground state that has early voting but republicans tend to turn out in greater numbers on election day so the

question is will those early voting leads hold charlie and nora? >> thank you. cbs political director john dickerson with us. good morning. let's make this assumption. suppose that ohio goes for the president. how does governor romney get to 270? >> well, if ohio goes for the president, then it's a very steep path for governor romney to get to that 270. he would have to win virginia north carolina, florida, he would have to win colorado and wisconsin and then he still wouldn't be there yet. he would have to then at the end get to -- he would have to win nevada iowa which are states the obama folks think are already in their column they're very confident about them. so it's a tough path for them in governor romney loses ohio. >> what are you looking for in share of the electorate? >> the share of the white vote and minority vote.

president obama got 43% of the white vote. that's a shrinking part of the electorate shrinking since 1992. or is this a new electorate? in 2008 president obama created a new coalition and the electorate is moving in the president's way. if governor romney does well tonight, the electorate will look more like it did in 2000 and 2004 than it did in 2008. >> i think 20% of the electorate in 2008 was a minority vote and obama won that, 80% of that vote. they're predicting that could go higher in terms of that part of the electorate. but then in you look at states like ohio and wisconsin, obama would win there because of actually the white vote because there's a lot of white votes in those states. >> it would be an irony, if he wins in ohio it will be because of white voters and because the economy in ohio is better.

>> okay, stay with us for a minute. >> we begin with obama's senior adviser david axelrod. david, good morning. >> good morning, charlie. happy election day. >> thank you. happy election day to you and everyone else in the great state of illinois. tell me what's most crucial today for you to win. >> well you've been using the word, which is turnout. we've been expecting a close election for a year and a half. we've built a tremendous organization. we've got 200,000 or more election shifts of volunteers set up. we've got 5,000 stations in neighborhoods across the battleground states and now it's time to turn out that vote and that's what this election is going to be all about. we are happy about those early vote numbers. they're very important. we go in with a great advantage. >> excuse me. the one thing the republicans keep talking about is the enthusiasm for governor romney as he crisscrosses the country.

that's the one thing they think suggests a good day for them. >> well, you know charlie, first of all i've been traveling with the president for the last four days and we've been met with huge crowds and enthusiastic crowds wherever we go. and i take some encouragement mentment from that but the greater encouragement comes from that cold, hard data. every state that has early vote has been very robust and in our favor. the polling has been very much in our favor. it's going to be a narrow race but in each -- we're even or ahead in almost every one of these -- in really every one of these battleground states. so they can take solace in their crowds. i'm going to look at the data. now we need to make sure our people come out and vote. >> you talk about the data being encouraging. we're looking at the size and make-up of the electorate.

do you think the minority vote will be bigger than it was in 2008? >> well it may well be because that's been the nature of our country's voting patterns since, you know for the last 20 years you've seen that portion of the electorate grow. i heard john mention white votes and he's going to be looking at white votes. the president got 43% of that vote last time which was more than the two previous democratic nominees and he's going to do very well with that vote tonight. we think we're going to hit our targets across all the cohorts because people fundamentally want a president who has in his sights the middle class and how we build an economy that works for the middle class and they believe in this president's commitment to do that and his ability to do that. >> karl rove used to talk about building a new republican majority. in the context of this conversation, are we looking at a new democratic majority a

different voter group coming together to being the majority in america? >> well what i will say is this -- the president i think reflects the country itself. this is a big, diverse country. our coalition is very broad. the republican coalition is very narrow. they've shut out latinos, they've shunned women on issues of women's health and i think they're paying a price for it in this election. so, you know i'm not going to make -- karl ended up regretting making grandiose predictions and i'm not going to make grandiose predictions here, but i will say that anyone wants to win a national election ought to speak to the concerns of the entire nation. this president does and he's going to win tonight. >> david axelrod, good to see you. thank you. >> great to see you guys. >> now let's go to kevin madden, senior adviser of the romney campaign. >> good morning.

>> it is election day and the governor is making two more stops in ohio pennsylvania. is that a sign the governor is worried about election day that he has to go to pennsylvania to enlargen the map, the state that has gone blue for a while? >> no, it's a sign that the governor is going to work very hard all the way until the polls close to get his message out and to also thank all the volunteers that have fanned out across the country right now to help him get his message out to voters. if you know the governor like i do, and i've been working with him now for about six years, he's not somebody to sit around until election day until the job is done. i expect we'll have a great day today, going out and carrying the message to ohio and pennsylvania, like you said is a state that the democrats had thought they had locked down long ago but today is very competitive. we're very confident it can actually be a part of our electoral coalition. >> if pennsylvania was so important, why send the governor there only in the last week? why not make it a state that you may a play for throughout the campaign?

>> you have to go when it matters. and i think in the last few weeks we've seen pennsylvania the polls there tighten. it becomes a tremendous opportunity when we look to get to the 270. it's going to be part of 270 and beyond if we continue to do what we've been doing the last two weeks, getting out the message that the governor has a better course for america when it comes to fixing the economy and putting the country back on track. i think it's going to be an important part of our effort to turn out swing voters. >> and republicans no doubt are energized, this electorate. democrats say they are battling against that by being organized in these early votes. if you look at the battleground states and thor votee erarly vote the democrats are ahead. is that a problem for governor romney if the democrats are doing better in the early votes? >> they're not doing as well as

they had hoped to in the vote and we've been very competitive in our early voting. our high propensity voters tend to come out on election day. tonight that's going to be an important difference on winning. nothing breeds organization like enthusiasm and the enthusiasm we've seen all across this country and key battleground states is going to make the difference tonight and help make sure that governor romney tonight becomes president-elect romney. >> i want to ask you about the minority vote and governor romney. polls have suggested governor romney has difficulty breaking out of single digits with latinas and african-americans. isn't that a problem for an incoming president to do so poorly among minority voters? >> we've done a good job with outreach and concentrating our effort to take governor romney's

message of opportunity and prosperity to minority voters. we haven't done a perfect job. i think that's something that as a party we have to continue to do always look for a way to perfect our outreach and our message. that will be an important part and is an important part of building a very strong republican party that's going to lead this country into the future. >> kevin madmadden, good to see you. we'll stay on the air until we know who wins. of course the weather is always important on election day. it will be more important tomorrow as a nor'easter targets the same areas devastated by superstorm sandy. more than 1 million utility customers still have no power, mostly in new york and new jersey. fema said it has already spent more than $200 million to house people who are homeless because of sandy. and temperatures fell into the 30s overnight, adding to the misery.

david, where are the problems going to be today and tomorrow? >> well the good news is whether we look at the national weather this morning we don't have a lot of problems. in fact mostly we just have a little bit of rain in chicago, north florida and atlanta, but nothing that's going to cause any major issues. let's go forward to tomorrow morning. this is the map wednesday morning. there's the coastal storm that will be just off of cape hatteras. there's two trends that have happened today. by wednesday evening, it appears the track of the low might be a little bit further off the coast. if that's the case the strongest winds might stay offshore, but it's increasing the chance that we could see snow along the i-95 corridor. now, as long as that snow is not really strong and really heavy, then the effects of this coastal storm might be a little bit less than we are thinking. but if we get areas of heavy snow, we have to worry about power outages because limbs are going to come down and that

could bring down additional utility lines. we'll know later today exactly how this storm could pan getting up a little chilly in some of the valleys this morning. but we have some sunshine and again, possibly some record- breaking temperatures as we look toward the afternoon. outside we go to our mount vaca cam. possibly some ground fog in the central valley, otherwise a couple of patches of fog in the north bay chilly temperatures there too. 46 in santa rosa. but 60 already in san francisco. this afternoon, we are back into the 70s and 80s. looks like cooler weather to come over the next couple of days. this national weather report sponsored by big lots, big savings. got lots of guests this holiday? gets lots of savings, at big lots. settle in, we're all family

here. we have heard for weeks that ohio could decide the presidential election. that state has already set records for early voting. we'll show you what both sides are doing this morning to get their remaining voters to the polls. >> and on this election day, both campaigns say we're going to win. >> we think that we have the enthusiasm and the wind at our back. >> someone's going to be right and someone's going to be wrong and i think we're going to be right. >> the obama campaign's ceo gives his first ever tv interview as we go inside the campaigns on "cbs this morning."

this portion of "cbs this morning" sponsored by walmart. nine days till christmas and eddy said the toys might not be ready! eddy? the elf! ♪ ♪ [ radio announcer ] today's forecast: it's snowing snowballs and snow bricks out there... seven more days and it's snowing snow bricks! oh, well, be careful! [ radio announcer ] only two days to go, and several of the elves were tossed around when they tried to wrap a pony. [ female announcer ] the keepsake countdown ornament. build anticipation every day till christmas. elves tried to wrap a pony!

in america today we're running out of a vital resource we need to compete on the global stage. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough college graduates to fill them. that's why at devry university we're teaming up with companies like cisco to help make sure everyone's ready with the know how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure america's ready. make sure you're ready. at devry.edu/knowhow. ♪ ♪

living with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis means living with pain. it could also mean living with joint damage. help relieve the pain and stop the damage with humira, adalimumab. for many adults with moderate to severe ra humira is clinically proven to help relieve pain and stop joint damage. so you can treat more than just the pain. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma or other types of cancer, have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b are prone to infections or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. ask your rheumatologist about humira, to help relieve pain and stop further joint damage before they stop you.

[ female announcer ] the humana walmart-preferred rx plan p-d-p gives you a low national plan premium... so you can focus on what really matters. call humana at 1-800-808-4003. in america today we're running out of a vital resource we need to compete on the global stage. what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough college graduates to fill them. that's why at devry university we're teaming up with companies like cisco to help make sure everyone's ready with the know how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure america's ready. make sure you're ready. at devry.edu/knowhow. ♪ ♪

you may have heard a lot of people are calling ohio a must-win state for both candidates. it's got 18 electoral votes. we'll go to columbus as voters hit the polls. >> and former party chairman haley barbour of mississippi and hour dean add their insights and analysis of what to look for as the day unfolds. after

>> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald good morning, everyone. 7:26 your time. i'm frank mallicoat. the polls are open right here in california for today's presidential election. cbs 5 reporter elissa harrington at san francisco's city hall with election details. >> reporter: good morning. polls opened at 7 a.m. and they will stay open until 8:00 tonight. we are outside san francisco city hall where 10 people have already dropped off their ballots this morning. now, before you vote here are a few things to keep in mind today. if you are a first time voter, you may need a photo i.d. or utility bill with name and address. if you have a vote by mail ballot, do not mail it. it will not get to an elections office in time. so instead, bring that ballot to a voting place if you want your vote to count. in san francisco, elissa harrington, cbs 5. >> all right, elissa, thanks. traffic and weather coming up

right after the break. jack, you said you wanted a whole new breakfast item. i give you... flap jacks. hmm! yeah...um...the thing is, i don't know if i'm comfortable with people eating my face. how 'bout a loaded breakfast sandwich with country-grilled sausage bacon, ham, two fried eggs, and melting cheese on toasted sourdough. don't do it. don't eat my face... do not eat my... you ate his face?!

slow and go through the san ramon rally. one lane is blocked as you can see backed up to walnut creek. the nimitz 880 through oakland looks good past the oakland coliseum and a look at the bay bridge where they just cleared an accident westbound 80 approaching treasure island. it's still busy through the maze. that is "timesaver traffic." for your forecast, here's lawrence. >> lots of sunshine out there too it looks like another glorious day. these temperatures going to be at or near record-breaking temperatures by the afternoon. 40s and 50s now although 60 in san francisco. latter part of the day 70s and sites. much cooler weather on the way.

mom: ready to go to work? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ every mom needs a little helper. that's why i got a subaru. announcer: love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

♪ they are voting in tents in rockaway, new york. in brick township new jersey one of the many places hard hit by superstorm sandy, they'veed new coastal evacuations starting tonight. >> we go to staten island. seth, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, charlie. that storm could complicate and slow relief efforts in hard-hit areas like this one, where problems from a lack of housing to a lack of electricity could only grow worse and worse as the storm comes. >> take the load off of this building right here. >> reporter: this houston utility crew traveled all the way to new jersey to help.

thomas klesel manages these volunteers from center point energy. >> they don't have any power at this time but within the next couple hours, they'll be happy people behind us. they'll all have lights. >> reporter: by monday night electricity was restored to many. but more than a million homes and businesses remain without power. monday evening new york governor andrew cuomo blasted utility companies. >> we've made progress but the progress is unacceptable. to see that i am angry, to say that i am frustrated disappointed would be the understatement of the decade. >> reporter: in some place there's no power. in other places there's simply no place to live as cold weather sets in. more than 200,000 people in the tri-state have registered for emergency housing and disaster assistance with fema. more than $210 million has been approved. >> this is your house here?

>> this is my house. >> reporter: but on staten island island danielle valitutto cannot leave her home. how is it at night? >> freezing. fema turned me down. have i no place to go. >> reporter: monday night she met with fema representatives again. she said she'll have to wait for ten days to know whether she'll get two months of temporary housing paid. for now her car is the warmest place she owns. >> everybody is complaining about electric. i wish that was the least of my worries. i wish i just didn't have power. you don't know what you got until it's gone. >> reporter: when it comes to long-term housing, authorities are looking into everything from hotels to motels prefab housing and even fema trailers. >> seth stone, thank you. and officials are working

overtime to make sure everyone can vote. jim axelrod is in hoboken, new jersey. jim, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. among the many challenges that sandy has presented both new york and new jersey, there's a question of how to handle election day. the form produced an enormous number of displaced voters and also trashed several polling sites. let me give you an idea of what we're talking about. look down the stree, right next to the senior center in hoboken, new jersey that's a polling site. that trash all came from inside the senior center, which is serving as a polling center. there was four feet of water. just a few days ago an army of volunteers came in and swept out the place and got it ready for today. essentially election officials in both new york and new jersey have decided the problem of where people with no polling site can vote by letting them vote at any polling site in the state. new jersey's taken the

additional step by letting people vote by fax or e-mail which is how it's handled for troops overseas. also we're told that the voting lines are a little bit longer an hour and a half one guy told me to vote here but they are getting to vote. back to you. >> jim axelrod, thank you. many political experts believe tonight's winner will be the man who takes ohio's 18 electoral votes. president obama campaigned there on monday. governor romney is returning there later today and this morning dean reynolds is at the ohio state university in columbus. >> reporter: good morning. voting has begun in the key battleground state of ohio in search of the state's 18 electoral votes. the polls will stay open across the state until 7:30 this evening eastern time. but already 1,787,000 votes have been cast early by people who went to the polls, and that is a record for this state in early voting. in the race for the president,

the surveys all show this race could not be tighter. the latest survey from the university of cincinnati said that the president is up by about a point over governor romney. that's why both candidates were in ohio yesterday and it's why governor romney will be coming back to cleveland even today. it's also why legions of volunteers have been working right up to today and will continue working on into the evening to get people to the polls. ohio secretary of state john eustid, who is a republican, is overseeing this process and he says he remains optimistic that we will know the outcome of this race sometime this evening or in the early hours of this morning and that it will not fall apart into a battle between lawyers and lawsuits. back to you. >> thanks. two former national party chairmen are with us now, former republican governor haley barbour and former vermont

governor howard dean. can we get the two of you to agree on what will determine this election? two things that are at play are turnout and enthusiasm. governor dean? >> well, they're connected, charlie. enthusiasm to some degree drives turnout. the democrats also have a lot of muscle and manpower and money behind their organizational turnout. i don't say that disparagingly. but that is not as much driven by enthusiasm. but enthusiasm is probably the biggest single factor in turnout. >> howard dean? >> we think we're in pretty good shape. we have focused a lot of our money and energy on the ground game, not so much television as some of the superpacs did. i think we'll win in ohio virginia and i think barack obama is going to get reelected. i'm sure governor barbour agrees with that. >> well, i'm trying to keep a straight face. go ahead nora. >> you are one of the smartest

political tack tigticians, you know a lot about politics. governor romney is going to pennsylvania, a state he visited only a couple days ago, and ohio, to the cleveland area northern ohio normally a democratic strong hold. does that mean he's going to an area he needs to win in ohio? >> it suggests to me they feel very good about the republican part of ohio and they have seen movement particularly throughout the month of october of swing voters, of independents various groups that makes them think they can cut down obama's margin in cleveland and northeast ohio. as far as pennsylvania's concerned, i have thought for quite a while that pennsylvania was available. southwest pennsylvania coal country is very anti-obama including union members there, the marcellus shale in northeast

pennsylvania is an area of energy growth and, peter, those voters see romney as a much more pro-energy person. so the question is again can they hold the margin in philadelphia down and expand the republican vote in northeast and southwest. i think it's a very logical play. now, whether it will succeed or not, these stakes are close, this election's close. >> yeah i think that haley's right about the smartness of going to cleveland. do you try to cut your opponent's margin down. where the president has a big problem, though is in the suburbs of philadelphia. republican women are pro-choice and they have really been attacked during this campaign by the ryan/romney campaign all that stuff about insurance companies not paying for birth control pills and all that business. so i think actually romney will lose in pennsylvania. i think the reason he's going to lose is because republicans who might consider voting for romney under normal circumstances are really upset about what's happened with the republican

party and women and i think we're going to win in the philadelphia suburbs and that's how we're going to carry pennsylvania. >> governor dean for both of you, you raised the point we've been talking about this morning, which is the composition of the electorate and minorities and what might be developing that suggests where american politics is going and the composition of the electorate. >> well look this is a more diverse country every year. i do think that in the long run there will be a big debate about this if governor romney does lose, the republicans are going to have to change their tack on some of those issues and stick to economic issues more. they haven't been able to do that in this campaign and i think that's a big factor. >> let's look at the fact is that african-americans are going to vote for the african-american president. according to the polls 98-2 97-3.

as far as his panpanics are concerned, george bush and ronald reagan have done very good with hispanic voters because they are pro family entrepreneurial, generally pro-life. they come to america to work. this time -- and obama has done very well after promising that he would have an immigration bill, they realize, wow, if we have an immigration bill weeks can kick away that issue. they didn't do what they said they were going to do. they didn't even try to pass an immigration bill because they wanted to keep the political issue and the polling indicates at least that they're going to do very well among latinos and largely because of not doing what they said they're going to do. >> we have to go. thank you very much. governor and governor. >> we'll be right back. there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement

therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62% you can save on your monthly prescription. [ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child, or, signs in a woman which may include changes in body hair or a large increase in acne, possibly due to accidental exposure. men with breast cancer or who have or might have prostate cancer, and women who are or may become pregnant or are breast feeding should not use androgel. serious side effects include worsening of an enlarged prostate, possible increased risk of prostate cancer lower sperm count, swelling of ankles, feet or body enlarged or painful breasts, problems breathing during sleep and blood clots in the legs. tell your doctor about your medical conditions and medications, especially insulin corticosteroids, or medicines to decrease blood clotting. talk to your doctor today about androgel 1.62%

so you can use less gel. log on now to androgeloffer.com and you could pay as little as ten dollars a month for androgel 1.62%. what are you waiting for? this is big news. [ timers ringing ] [ male announcer ] it's that time of year. time for campbell's green bean casserole. you'll find the recipe at campbellskitchen.com. ♪ ♪ campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.

we're taking downy to the streets. which shirt feels more expensive? that one's softer. it's the same t-shirt. really? this one was washed in downy. why spend a lot of money when you can just use downy? downy's putting our money where our soft is. try downy softness. love it or your money back. tim, nobody ever asks me what i want to be when i grow up. maybe it's your name. richard? smucker. (announcer) when your name is smucker everyone knows you'll grow up to make the world's best jam. with a name like smucker's, it has to be good. [ male announcer ] at jcp, we're into the i jeans attitude. it's what you put on when you're going out. feel better every day in i jeans by buffalo. at truly low prices. only at jcp.

tens of thousands of get out the vote volunteers are waking up early this morning. bill plante has a look inside both campaigns. >> reporter: for both parties this is what it's all about, actually getting people to vote. the candidates may be the inspiration, but it's the campaigns that work at making it

happen. jim messina is the tech savvy ceo of the billion-dollar obama campaign. he gave us his first ever tv interview in the final hours before the polls opened. are you nervous? >> i get paid to worry. the campaign manager spends all his time worrying. >> reporter: what are your nerves like? let me see your fingernails. >> they're not bitten. i will admit to some sleepless nights of late but more about the unknown. i get paid to worry about everything. >> reporter: you mean moments like the denver debate for example? >> that was one. but even after that debate we understood the choice in this election. >> reporter: messina is confident, because while the president has been making his loop around the swing states messina's ground game, thousands of volunteers and paid staffers have been working nonstop, knocking on doors, making phone calls and getting people to vote early. messina claims his army knocked on 5.2 million doors over last weekend.

trying to tip the balance in their favor. >> tomorrow we're going to have more people vote than people expect. >> with only hours to go obama's headquarters team still projects energy and urgency. >> reporter: and what kind of pad pad does this ground game give you? >> a point or two. in a battleground state as close as some of these states could be, that could be the difference here. >> reporter: confidence is also running high at romney headquarters in boston. their candidate they say is closing strong. >> we feel really good. we've seen this excitement across the country. we think that we have the enthusiasm and the wind at our back. >> reporter: the campaign is encouraged by the huge crowds that have turned out for romney

a long costly and bitter campaign is over. this morning, the election is up to you. the voters. john dickerson and major garrett will help us sort out this very tight presidential race on "cbs this morning."

i look at her, and i just want to give her everything. yeah you -- you know, everything can cost upwards of...[ whistles ] i did not want to think about that. relax, relax, relax. look at me, look at me. three words, dad -- e-trade financial consultants. so i can just go talk to 'em? just walk right in and talk to 'em. dude those guys are pros. they'll hook you up with a solid plan. they'll -- wa-- wa-- wait a minute. bobby? bobby! what are you doing, man? i'm speed dating! [ male announcer ] get investing advice for your family at e-trade.

[ alarm clock ringing ] [ female announcer ] if you have rheumatoid arthritis, can you start the day the way you want? can orencia help? [ woman ] i wanted to get up when i was ready, not my joints. [ female announcer ] could your "i want" become "i can"? talk to your doctor. orencia reduces many ra symptoms like pain, morning stiffness and progression of joint damage. it's helped new ra patients and those not helped enough by other treatments. do not take orencia with another biologic medicine for ra due to an increased risk of serious infection. serious side effects can occur including fatal infections. cases of lymphoma and lung cancer have been reported. tell your doctor if you are prone to or have any infection like an open sore or the flu or a history of copd a chronic lung disease. orencia may worsen your copd.

here's information you need to know. orencia is available in two forms infusion and also self-injection. talk to your doctor to see if orencia is right for you. and see if you can change "i want" to "oh, yes i can!" [ male announcer ] at jcp, we've created a brand we're so proud of we put our name on it. in our jcp shop you'll find well-made clothes that stand on their own and mix with your favorites. ♪ get it on ♪ ♪ bang the gong ♪ ♪ get it on ♪ we're big fans of izod a classic since 1922. and still every guy's go-to for no-fuss style. jcp and izod make it easy always at a great deal. ♪ ♪

[ female announcer ] caroline penry began using olay total effects in 2001. and one wedding 2 kids, 43 bottles of olay total effects many birthdays later, still looks amazing. thanks to the trusted performance of olay. when we got married. i had three kids. and she became the full time mother of three. it was soccer, and ballet, and cheerleading, and baseball. those years were crazy. so, as we go into this next phase, you know, a big part of it for us is that there isn't anything on the schedule. [ female announcer ] with swiffer dusters a great clean doesn't have to take longer. i'm done. i'm gonna read one of these. i'm gonna read one of these! [ female announcer ] unlike sprays and dust rags swiffer 360 duster's extender gets into hard-to-reach places without the hassle. so you

can get unbelievable dust pickup in less time without missing a thing. i love that book. can you believe the twin did it? ♪ ♪ swiffer. great clean in less time. or your money back.

>> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald it's 7:56. i'm michelle griego. election day has finally arrived. polls have been open for almost an hour now. cbs 5's elissa harrington joins us live from a polling place in san francisco. >> reporter: good morning. i'm outside of city hall where people have been dropping off their vote by mail ballots out front. others are inside casting their votes. polls opened at 7 a.m. and will stay open until 8 p.m. there aren't any big lines yet. the reason for that might be that a lot of people are mailing in their ballots this year. a field poll shows that this election in california for the very first time they are expecting more mail-in ballots than precinct ballots. you have to bring the ballot today for your vote to count, it's too late to mail it. elissa harrington, cbs 5. traffic and weather coming up.

good morning. on the san mateo bridge things are improving westbound 92 past the pay gates towards the high- rise. drive times 15 minutes between hayward and foster city. if you are coming off the bridge, northbound 101 off peninsula avenue accident blocking a lane. a lot of brake lights beyond 92 and growing along 101. 280 better option. that's traffic. here's lawrence. >> weather looking good around the bay area again enjoy it we have major changes in the future. outside now, san jose hazy sunshine to start out the day and plenty of sunshine all the way to the coastline. the temperatures are already beginning to warm up in the san jose area. 58 degrees there. 60 in mountain view and also san francisco. only 50 degrees in santa rosa. by the afternoon, 70s and 80s again, maybe a few more records. then cooling down big time tomorrow, showers on thursday and friday. captions by: caption colorado comments@captioncolorado.com

it is eight avm welcome back to "cbs this morning" it is 8:00 a.m. welcome back to "cbs this morning," election day. americans are lining up to vote. two candidates as a nation could be waiting long into the night to find out who is the next president. california voters face a tough choice, raise taxes or get hit with massive budget cuts. it's an issue that would have nationwide ramifications. first here is a look at what's happening in the world and what we've been covering on "cbs this morning." >> after all the millions of dollars in ads, it comes down to you. >> this is the day when voters choose the next president of the united states. >> early voting so key to the obama campaign's election strategy. they have wrapped up early voting in just about every batal

ground state. >> one day away from the first day of a new advising. >> reporter: i talked to an adviser last night who said romney is confident. >> the electorate would look more like it did in 2000 and 2004 than it did in 20 12k3w4r08 the enthusiasm we've seen will help to ensure governor romney will be president elect romney. >> they can take solace in their crowds, i'm going to look at the data. >> i think barack obama is going to be re-elected. >> i'm sure governor barbour agrees with that. >> i'm trying to keep a straight face. >> are you nervous? >> i get paid to worry. a campaign manager spends all his time worrying. we'll go to the polls, elect a new leader and we can all go home for thanksgiving to fight about it. i'm charlie rose with gayle king and norah o'donnell. at least 120 million americans are expected to vote this election day. two of them are governor mitt

romney and his wife ann. they vote add short time ago in their hometown of belmont, massachusetts. >> new polls of likely voters show the race is extremely close and unpredictable. one poll has romney ahead by one percentage point. another has the race in a dead heat. a third chose president obama leading by three percentage points. the president is in his hometown of chicago this morning. nancy cordes is there inside his campaign night headquarters. lots of action there tonight. nancy, good morning. >> reporter: good morning again. the president arrived here on "air force one" at about 2:00 in the morning. he said in a radio interview that he feels cautiously optimistic today. he feels he has all the votes as long as all the voters turn out. he early voted about a week and a half ago. his vice president joe biden when casting his ballot this morning in his home state of delaware was asked by a reporter, do you think this is the last time you'll ever vote

for you self? the vice president smiled and said, no i don't think so. it gets you thinking whabt can happen four years from now. the president has an election day tradition playing a pickup game of basketball. we'll watch the returns come in at a local hotel and at some point make his way over here to this convention center on lake michigan in what he hopes will turn out to be a victory party. >> nancy cordes thanks. we now go to the boston suburb of belmont, massachusetts, the home of governor mitt romney. jan crawford is there and joins us for that story. >> good morning. after 17 months of campaigning that hard-fought primary, the bruising general election fight, now governor romney and his wife ann voted. a reporter actually shouted out to him who did you vote for. he said i think you know. today he's out on the campaign trail in ohio and pennsylvania trying to get every possible

vote on what everyone knows will be a razor close election. it's all about momentum and intensity today. romney had that of course after the first debate whichever one agrees changed the dynamics. the campaign believes and the polls reflect hurricane sandy flattened out his momentum. they're neck and neck in this battleground states. the campaign believes he's got the momentum back. his rallies have seen huge crowds. they believe the obama campaign will not get the turnout they got in 2008. that's lightning in a bottle they say and you can't get it twice. back to you. >> jan crawford thank you. florida is the biggest swing state and one of the most important. it could either way. elaine quijano is in tampa. where have the candidates been focusing in florida lately? >> here in florida the polls have been open for four hours. all morning long we've seen a steady stream of voters here at the university of south florida

in tampa. now, all eyes are going to be focused on this area and the interstate 4 corridor. that's the area between here and orlando where there are a number of independent voters. that's precisely why we've seen so many visits from the candidates here in recent months. dozens between the two men, in fact. also, the campaigns have been very aggressively focusing on hispanic voters here. there are some 1.6 million latino registered voters here in florida, and campaign officials tell me they really tried to appeal to them in a way that they appeal to the broader electorate, by talking about the economy, improving the economic picture and creating jobs. for "cbs this morning," elaine quijano, tampa. in 2008 barack obama won the state of wisconsin by 14 points. the race this year is predicted to be much closer. chip reid is in madison, wisconsin. chip, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. the top official in the polling

station behind me says this is the busiest election day she's seen in her 11 years here and we are expecting a massive turnout all across wisconsin. this may well be the most bitterly polarized state in the nation. that's because of the ferocious battle they fought this summer over recalling the republican governor, democrats led by union officials lost that battle. president obama, candidate obama four years ago, won here in a land side 56-42 over john mccain. this time the polls are very tight. the most recent one shows the president leading by just three points. one reason it's so close is that although unemployment is below the national average, it has been trending up in recent months. also paul ryan the republican vice presidential nominee of course is from wisconsin. he has helped to fire up the base. but this is really going to be about turnout in the end, and both sides have battle-tested armies from that battle earlier this year. back to you. >> chip reid thanks. cbs news political director john

dickerson is here, also national journal white house correspondent major garrett is with us. lem begin with this question using the map, if governor romney does not win ohio, how does he got to 270? >> with difficulty. >> a tough road. let's do it. let's give the 18 electoral votes to president obama. that would get president obama to 255. basically then mitt romney has to almost run the table. he has about 11 paths. let's give him virginia north carolina. we'll give him the big grandaddy, 29, florida he's still not there yet. we'll give him wisconsin at 10 still not there. colorado at nine still not there yet. he then could get new hampshire. that would be the fastest non-ohio route. he could also get nevada or iowa. that's six states he would have to win if he loses ohio. >> how many of those six states is he behind today according to the polls? >> well of course he's -- he's

tied in virginia behind in wisconsin, tied in new hampshire. he's ahead in north carolina. nevada and iowa which would be crucial to that last piece, tied in colorado as well. >> which is why the governor is going to ohio today, going to northern ohio cleveland and then going to western pennsylvania which is covered in southern ohio. so the pennsylvania visit is not so much about pennsylvania. it's a little bit about getting both media markets at the top and bottom of ohio. >> how common is it guys to campaign on election day and how effective is it. >> al gore in 2000. he went all around this country campaigning until the last minute. george bush took that day off and the day before largely off. >> it's more a sign i'm coming more important than i'm here. you want to say, here look at me. i'm pulling out every stop to make sure i'm out here campaigning. you go through the same kind of effort to get out the door and

vote. >> voting is about emotion, right, and how you feel about candidates. it's also a science. i'm particularly obsessed with the early vote. it says a lot about how america is changing. we complain we have to wait in lines to vote. by tonight, we could have -- cbs estimates almost four in ten people in america will have already voted. if you look state by state, north carolina almost 63% already voted. colorado 70%. more republicans and democrats in in colorado. what about this early vote? >> it's very important for the obama perspective. romney campaign believes the day-of vote will swamp whatever advantage the obama campaign has. they can recycle the people that voted as volunteers. if you voted, you then become part of the get out the vote effort on the day of election. they not only track your early vote, but puts you back in the

system to work on get out the vote efforts. in nevada 11,200 hours have been signed up for today to do get out the vote operations. in florida it's 168,000 hours of volunteer time that obama workers will do just to get out the vote today. >> john isn't it true that obama is underperforming in some states in the early vote from 2008? >> he can underperform 2008 and still win. the question is how are republicans overperforming. they are in the early

california's prop 30 could be a game changer for that state california's prop 30 could be a game changer for that state and others. governor jerry brown tells us

why a tax hike may be the only way to avoid massive budget cuts. you're watching "cbs this morning." we'll be right back after the break. hey buddy, i bet mom would love this, huh? jack? jaaack? jaaack?! jack?! looks good ladies! jack! come on, stop the car. jack! no, no, no, no, no! the only thing more surprising than finding the perfect gifts.. niice. ...is where you find them. how did you know? i had a little help. this is how to gift. this is sears. chili's lunch break combos start at just 6 bucks. so ditch the brown bag for something better. like our bacon ranch quesadillas or big mouth burger bites, served with soup or salad, and fries. starting at just 6 bucks at chili's.

these are our ocean spray 100% juice blends with no added sugar, just one glass equals two servings of fruit. very fruit-tritious. or, try ocean spray light 50 with just 50 calories, a full serving of fruit and no added sugar. with tasty flavors like cranberry-pomegranate and cranberry- concord grape, it's like a fruit stand in every bottle.

just...you know... demonstrating how we blend the fruits. try all our tasty ocean spray 100% and light 50 juices.

>> reporter: i'm chris stanford

in minnesota, where two controversial questions are fueling what is expected to be the largest voter turnout in the country today. one of the ballot questions would require voter i.d. at the polls. the other would strengthen the state's ban on gay marriage. there is a concern that redistricting could bog down the system today. many people here are voting somewhere different than four years ago. here four polling places were eliminated. however, so far, so good today. in minnesota, chris stanford for "cbs this morning." in california, no issue is drawing more cash or controversy than proposition 30. that ballot question would raise taxes to prevent massive education budget cuts. >> reporter: this is about the people choosing on or off. money into our schools or money out of our schools. it's really stark. >> reporter: california governor jerry brown says without more money for schools, the california dream is over.

>> the california dream is basically built on great public schools and colleges and universities. >> reporter: this is a tough sell, though, because you're asking people to voluntarily tax themselves. >> i've looked at the budget. i've cut $20 billion. if the people don't want to give the money, i can understand that. but we then can't spend what we don't have. >> reporter: brown's proposition 30 would increase the state's sales tax by a quarter percent and raise income tax rates on people making more than $250,000. >> vote yes on proposition 30. let's go! let's win. >> reporter: the current state budget assumes prop 30 will pass, so if it fails, $6 billion in education cuts automatically go into effect. that could shrink the school year by up to three weeks. >> reporter: some of your opponents believe that if this fails you will find a work-around. that you're not willing to cut education by $6 billion. >> if i could find it somewhere else i would have found it. i don't do this because i have a lot of alternatives.

it will be pretty drastic. >> reporter: the long beach school district would face $35 million in cuts on top of the $330 million it has cut since 2008. nearly 1,000 teach verse lost their jobs and four schools closed. joe carlson is the co-principal of long beach polly high school. >> the fat is trimmed and we are to the point where we are going to have to go into the marrow here. >> reporter: his school may use its music, art and school programs. john kupal is with the no on 30 campaign. >> prop 30 would give us the highest income tax rate, the highest sales tack rate which we already have by the way, so we think it would inflict horrible damage on the california economy. >> it's all smoke and mirrors. >> reporter: out of state anti-tax troops have helped fund a war chest to fight prop 30. these opponents question if the tax money will really go to schools.

they also say raising the tax rate as high as 10% is bad policy. >> asking for a massive tax increase without reform and without addressing waste fraud and abuse is a failure on their part. >> reporter: the yes on 30 campaign has raised more than $69 million, but heading into today's vote support was below 50%. the threshold prop 30 needs to pass. for "cbs this morning," ben tracy, los angeles. >> and voters in just a few critical states may decide who will be the next president of the united states. we'll look at three bat groundtleground contests and what's driving voters in your state. you're watching "cbs this morning." we'll be back right after the break.

>> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald good morning, everybody. 8:25. time for some news headlines. vote something well under way on this election day as polls have been open for an hour and a half in california. cbs 5's elissa harrington joins us live from a polling place at city hall here in san francisco. good morning. >> reporter: right here in san francisco where a steady stream of people have been casting their votes since 7:00 this morning. polls are open until 8:00 tonight. now, if you have a mail-in ballot, very important, you cannot mail it today. you need to bring it in. that deadline to mail it has passed. and there are tables set up like this one in front of city hall where volunteers are collecting mailed ballots so that those votes count. if you have never voted before, you might want to bring a photo id or utility bill with you just in case it's needed. if you have voted before, you should be ready to go. so again, polls open until 8:00

tonight. mail-in ballots do not mail them. bring those to a polling place. at city hall, elissa harrington, cbs 5. >> thank you. and it's a beautiful day. get out there and vote. we have your traffic and weather coming up.

it's gridlock now through oakland on the northbound lanes of 880 past the coliseum, the airport. it looks like this towards the downtown oakland exit. also, coming down the eastshore freeway, very stop and go this morning heading off to the

carquinez bridge. we had that earlier accident westbound 80 approaching fitzgerald drive. they are working to clear it now. it's a motorcycle wreck. 45 minutes from the carquinez bridge to the maze. this is another problem spot along the peninsula, southbound 280 approaching trousdale drive. traffic is stacked up towards 380. that's your "timesaver traffic." for your forecast, here's lawrence. >> it is gorgeous to the coastline again today. enjoy it. we have some big changes coming. outside now some hazy sunshine overlooking russian hill toward the golden gate bridge. this afternoon sunny and warm. right now already 62 degrees in pacifica. 61 san francisco. and 58 in san jose. this afternoon, 70s and 80s around the bay, 80s in the valley. at the coastline even 70s there. the next couple of days, high pressure moves out of the way much cooler tomorrow. a chance of showers developing on thursday and friday, maybe even a dusting of snow. then it looks like back to sunshine for the weekend. en. that's elizabeth. and that's skyler... and his mom, nancy. they st a few of the californians who took it on themselves to send you a message

about what they need to restore years of cuts to their schools. prop thirty-eight. thirty-eight raises billions in new revenue - bypasses sacramento and sends every k through 12 dollar straight to our local schools... every school. for them. for all of us. vote yes on thirty-eight.

both campaigns are making a huge push, folks. they know it all comes down to one thing. >> is it all going to be about voter turnout? >> yes. here and the other battleground states. >> voter turnout will mean everything. >> it all comes down to turnout in these final hours. >> it all boils down to how many voters turn out. >> a lot of tech niknical jargon in there. let me break it down for you. the candidate who has more voters is going to win. that is the best analysis cable news has done since the six-part

cnn series "bears do they [ bleep ] in the woods?" welcome back to "cbs this morning" on this election day. we're looking at what could happen today and in the next four years. >> with us now are former house speaker newt gingrich, who ran for president earlier this year, and analyst dee dee myers, president clinton's white house press secretary. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> mr. speaker, before the hurricane, you were predicting that governor romney would win in a landslide with over 300 electoral votes. do you think that's still true? >> well i like your opening. i do think it comes down to turnout. i do think that the guy who gets more votes today is probably going to win. that was very impressive of you guys to package it like that. i do believe -- interestingly, michael barone also agree, rrm is going to win. presidents get the last poll number. the battleground poll is at 47,

48. that suggests to me somewhere between 51-49, which i think is where rove is, to a53-47 which is where i am. at 53-47 romney will carry over 300 electoral votes. >> you quote different sources in your analysis. >> i don't spend a lot of time quoting dick morris and krl rove when i'm doing my analysis. i agree it's all going to come down to turnout. i think that the obama campaign from the very beginning of this race, has made an argument they were going to focus on a -- winning in the battleground states. keep in mind almost half of voters have already gone to the polls and voted in those states or sent in their absentee ballots and the president is leading by a substantial margin. romney will have to make up a lot of ground if he's going to win in the key battleground states where he needs to win in

order to become president. i think there's been a slight edge to the president's numbers in the last few days. i think when you add the turnout operation on top of that he has a slight edge. it's been a long time since we've been sitting here on lenlg election morning when we all agree that anything is possible. >> democrats are banking on this early vote. if that early vote is down from 2008 and you know that republican enthusiasm is up from 2008 for john mccain. does that factor in how many people are going to turn out on the republican side? >> well i mean i think more people will vote in this election than voted in 2008. i think it will be record turnout. but the numbers have been good. the numbers have been strong in the key states among the obama voters. they've registered a lot more people than republicans, particularly in recent months and have turned out people who didn't turn in 2010 were first time voters in 2008 and today they can focus on the regular voters, the democrats that always turn out and make sure they get to the polls and tlut

lines and all that. there is a turnout advantage for the president, both because of organization, because of what's already happened. >> so is the big unknown in this election the intensity of the voters for the president, the urban intensity as some have called it? >> and speaker will have a different view of this but i think there's a lot more intensity among democrats and obama supporters than is being reported. my first campaign was 1984 way back in the day and vice president mondale was running before president reagan. and mondale did a rally in new york, 100,000 people turned out. you've got to look at other metrics like who is actually turning out that. favors the president right now. >> we can tell a lot from where the candidates go in these final days. mitt romney is going to campaign today in pennsylvania and ohio try not to leave any votes on the table.

specifically in ohio he is going to the cleveland area a democratic stronghold. why there? >> well first of all, if i saw your map correctly -- i was looking over dede's shoulder toward the monitor down here. you added pennsylvania as a swing state. that is a big change. i think it's an accurate change. the democrats may very well lose the senate seat there to a coal executive from western pennsylvania where the war on coal is a big issue. remember that in eastern ohio the war on coal is a big issue in the river valley. going to pittsburgh today, romney gets both state's media attention. by going to cleveland he appeals basically to a large european communities, very large polish-american city very large italian-american city. i suspect what he's trying to do is appeal to the collar precincts, the suburbs which now are essentially second and third generation europeans who are

very very conservative in their religious values and very conservative in their attitude toward patriotism and the work ethic. my guess is that he's trying to offset the city of cleveland with the rest of cuyahoga county and the surrounding counties. >> exciting day. newt gingrich dee dee myers, thanks to both of you. we appreciate it. eight of nine battleground states are expected to decide this race. we'll swing through nevada

in dallas texas, voters are just starting to show up at the poll s

polls. the presidential candidates didn't spend any time in the final days of the campaign because this state is considered a red state. there are some tight congressional races. blue skies this morning. the weather will not be a factor today. we are expecting clear skies and a high of 75. in dallas stephanie lucera for "cbs this morning." >> finally election day. we get to vote. we talk about the swing states in this election we're not just talking about ohio. we want to focus on three states that could really go either way, starting with nevada. anna werner is in las vegas. hello. good morning to you, anna. >> reporter: good morning to you. nevada helped the republicans in 2000 and 2004 voting for george w. bush but in 2008 barack obama hit the jackpot here beating john mccain by a whopping 12 percentage points. the president is hoping to do it here for a second time. the democrats are getting a lot of help from organized labor and

from the latino vote now 15% of the total. they've been out, knocking on doors, registering new voters. today there are 90,000 more democrats registered in nervevada than republicans. republicans are trying to make inroads by promising to do better things for the economy. nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the nation at 11.8% and one of the highest home foreclosure rates as well. both of those are facts that the romney/ryan team have been trying to hammer home here. the key to today's election in nevada is likely to be those hispanic voters. in the early balloting it's gone heavily democratic very helpful thing for the president here. if those hispanic numbers go even more strongly in that direction, you could see another race, u.s. senate race affected as well could have a victory for a democrat in that race. back to you. >> anna westernrner thanks. surprised many by winning

virgin virgina. it is a toss-up state again this year. in sterling, virginia, wyatt, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. polls have been open so far for several hours in virginia. the turnout today is heavy. we're at the forest grove elementary school in sterling, a swing precinct in the swing state of virginia. what do we mean by that? in precincts like this all across the state in 2008 they gave 54% of their vote to president barack obama, a democrat. the very next year in 2009 these same voters turned out 59% to elect a republican governor bob mcdonnell. this is a true swing state. voters can go either way. both sides today say it's all about their ground game personal visits knocking on doors, giving rides to voters to the polls, getting out their people. to win, both sides say they need more margins from the areas where they are strong. in other words, for governor romney, that would mean senior citizens, white voters rural

voters. for the president that means young voters minority voters and women. on both sides, they are expressing extreme confidence they have the numbers today to win the swing state of virginia. >> wyatt andrews, thank you for that. across the country now to colorado where another close race is expected. barry peterson is in littleton, a denver suburb. a lot of early votes there in colorado. >> reporter: voting is already under way here in colorado. this is arapahoe county a swing county that could decide how colorado goes tonight. it's a third independent, third democratic, a third republican. in 2008 it went 56% for obama, 43% mccain, about how the whole state went. now there has been a big door-to-door effort for hispanic voters trying to get them out. they represent about 9% of colorado's electorate, enough to tip the election. it is also an early voting state. about half the voters have cast their ballots and those ballots are already being counted.

the results will be released shortly after the polls close at 7:00 pm mountain time. as for the ground game advantage obama. about 60 offices statewide compared to about 20 offices for romney. back to you. >> thank you barry peterson. no matter what happens tonight, the next president is sure to have a major impact in other countries, including china. as bill whittaker reports, many chinese have been following the campaign very very closely. >> reporter: in this very close race about the only thing that president barack obama and governor mitt romney seem to agree on is a harder loin to china on trades and job. >> we're going to insist that china plays by the same rules as everybody else. >> on day one, i will label chieny a china a currency manipulator. >> it's aimed at america but with satellite tv and the internet china is watching

too. >> will the next u.s. president antagonize china or -- >> reporter: the english language voice of china's state-run tv. >> all the chaiinese media, if you look at the front page stories, they talk about how the two presidential candidates accuse china, bash china. >> reporter: millions of young chinese also are hooked on the american election. we met three self proclaimed political junkies, a journalists and two students. do you hear china bashing? >> everyone has an iphone and ipad. without it cheap labor supplies in chienna, how can they produce them at such a low price? it's impossible. >> reporter: they're not getting their information from the official voices on state tv. they're getting it mostly unfiltered from the internet. >> we want to know what's happening on the other side of

the world. >> internet so people can get their own access. >> reporter: 29-year-old english teacher downloads and translates political speeches and shares them on the internet. his convention downloads got hundreds of hits. online followers don't like all the criticism of china, but do like the openness of the american system. >> american politics is open enthusiastic. >> at least they can fight for their own interests. at least they can fight for the people. >> reporter: he doesn't speak for the communist party of china but as a member he knows the policy line. >> u.s. democracy is very beautiful, is charming. but it has many shortcomings and weaknesses. >> american voters get to go up and actually poke the guy who wants to be the president of the united states and ask him a pointed question, what are you going to do for me. the chinese people don't get a chance to do that with their leaders. >> i respect the american

democracy. china a sole major economy after the financial meltdown is because of effective leadership that we exercised. >> reporter: two days after americans choose a president, china china's communist party chooses leaders for its party. the chinese people won't have a vote. i'm bill whittaker in beijing. republican strategist frank luntz is with us this morning waiting to come on deck. we'll tell you what he has learned and what he predicts when "cbs this morning" continues.

i'm janet kim at a national polling location. this is the first presidential polling station in tennessee where you'll need the photo i.d. before you cast a ballot. also worth noting if today is anything like what we saw in early voting, the state should see a pretty strong turnout, more than 1.4 million ballots were cast during early voting and election officials say that's the second highest early voting total in tennessee history. now, the u.s. department of justice has announced that it's going to be making visits at polling sites here in davidson county and shelby county just to monitor those general election procedures. something voters will have to watch out for. i'm janet kim in nashville for "cbs this morning." republican strategist frank lutz has been a very busy man in the past 72 hours. >> he just travelled to five of the swing states that could determine the election. frank, good morning. >> good morning. i don't know who's more tired, the voters or more. >> so at the end of the day,

what's going to be the biggest story? >> i think that we're going to spend $6 billion overall on all of politics including $2 billion on this presidential campaign. all of this money on house and senate races. i think the republicans in the house will lose a seat or two. democrats in the senate may even break even. that it is a 50/50 shot for barack obama's return. think of how much money, how much was spent and the e moegts and -- emotion and the yelling and the frustration to have a status quo election. >> do you believe that barack obama will be re-elected? >> i still see mitt romney having the most narrow of popular vote advantages, and i can't call ohio. nobody can. if you're a professional and do your job correctly and take the partisanship out of it ohio is just too close to call. and that determines the election. >> let's talk about the voters for a second. we talked about the speeches the polls, the numbers, the swing states the candidates. what are you hearing from the voters? how are they feeling today?

>> well first, thank you for doing that because the american people are frustrated with all these polling numbers. what they want threefold. number one is a plan for jobs. a real plan that's specific. it gets people back to work. number two, the deaf sismt the debt. they don't want washington spending as much as they do. number three, they want everyone to get along and do the job. right now, they're not seeing anything on either of those. >> what's influencing the most the debate? >> the debates. mitt romney would not be in this race if not for the first debate. if mitt romney should win tonight or tomorrow he will have won not because of millions and billions in advertising, he will have won because of a debate performance. that's substance. that's what people should watch about this election cycle. >> it's incredible to me that we have that much frustration in the electorate and that much money, and this won't be a change election which 2008 was.

even the mid-terms in 2010 were a change election. how does that compute? how does that turn out that way? if barack obama is not voted out of office then why does that happen that way, if there's that feeling of frustration? >> because we're a divided country. we really are 50/50. 1/3 are republicans, 1/3 are democrats, 1/3 are independents, but in the end, we break down 50/50 and that's the way we're going to be. >> a long night, yes or no? >> i may be watching you in the same suit and tie tomorrow morning. >> well, you look nice. >> but in the end, voters are just hoping that someone is listening to them this time. >> thank you very much. cbs news will have complete coverage of election night anchored by scott pelley. our coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. eastern time. >> that does it for us. up next, your local news. we'll see you tomorrow on "cbs this morning" with more news more analysis, more perspective on what happened on this day.

>> your realtime captioner: linda marie macdonald finally arrived. c-b-s five's elissa harrington it's 8:55. i'm michelle griego with the cbs 5 news brief. election day has finally arrived. cbs 5 reporter elissa harrington is live at city hall in san francisco. how's it going? >> reporter: well, it's starting to look and feel a lot like election day outside of city hall. we have some supporters of different measures trying to sway voters at the very last minute as they head inside to cast their ballots. outside, there's also a table for mail-in votes. since the mail-in deadline has passed, people must bring their mail-in ballots to polling place for those votes to count. we're not seeing long lines. the reason for that? a field poll shows that in california they are expecting more mail-in ballots than precinct ones. polls opened at 7 a.m. and they will stay open until 8:00 tonight. at city hall, elissa harrington, cbs 5. >> thank you. stay with us, traffic and

weather in just a moment.

good morning. we are getting word of a multicar crash northbound 680 near el pour tad tow alamo. traffic is jammed in both directions. out toward the bay bridge toll plaza, it's stacked up through

the maze this morning. metering lights are on. so it's crowded on the incline as you head up the upper deck, as well. elsewhere, westbound 4 bay point we have an accident there blocking a lane. and checking out the nimitz, you can see it is still just kind of stop and go like that or at least slow and go from hayward towards downtown oakland. southbound 880 looks good. for more on our gorgeous forecast, here's lawrence. >> it is beautiful around the bay area already this morning. clear skies all the way to the coastline. out toward mount diablo looking nice and clear there. the offshore winds continuing to blow. that air sinks as it approaches the coastline our temperatures heat up. right now we have a lot of 60s beginning to show up. 62 in pacifica. 61 in san francisco. and 62 degrees in san jose. this afternoon, another banner day. those temperatures up in the 70s and the 80s. may see a few records fall again. and then looks like things change quite drastically towards tomorrow. the sea breeze kicks in, temperatures cool off, maybe rain thursday and friday. captions by: caption colorado comments@captioncolorado.com